Monthly Archives: February 2014

Posted on by

The 34th Annual Razzie Award Nominations

A Golden Raspberry Award
Kristen Bell and Justin Long sat at a table

Image via: blackfilm.com

The Golden Raspberry Awards, or the Razzies, is an award ceremony that recognises the hilariously bad in film. The ceremony is typically held the day before the Academy Awards, and basically tries to be a tacky version. Funnily enough, the “winners” don’t attend most of the time.

The nominations for the 34th Annual Razzie Awards were released on January 15th this year, and are as follows:

Worst Picture Nominations 2013

After Earth

Grown-Ups 2

The Lone Ranger

A Madea Christmas

Movie 43

Worst Actress Nominations 2013

Halle Berry (The Call and Movie 43)

Selena Gomez (The Getaway)

Lindsey Lohan (The Canyons)

Tyler Perry (A Madea Christmas)

Naomi Watts (Diana and Movie 43)

Worst Actor Nominations 2013

Johnny Depp (The Lone Ranger)

Ashton Kutcher (Jobs)

Adam Sandler (Grown-Ups 2)

Jaden Smith (After Earth)

Sylvester Stallone (Bullet to the Head, Grudge Match and Escape Plan)

Worst Supporting Actress Nominations 2013

Lady Gaga (Machette Kills)

Salma Hayek (Grown-Ups 2)

Katherine Heigl (The Big Wedding)

Kim Kardashian (Temptation)

Lindsey Lohan (InAPPropriate Comedy and Scary Movie 5)

Worst Supporting Actor Nominations 2013

Chris Brown (Battle of the Year)

Larry the Cable Guy (A Madea Christmas)

Taylor Lautner (Grown-Ups 2)

Will Smith (After Earth)

Nick Swardson (A Haunted House and Grown-Ups 2)

Worst Screen Combo Nominations 2013

The entire cast of Grown-Ups 2

The entire cast of Movie 43

Lindsey Lohan and Charlie Sheen (Scary Movie 5)

Tyler Perry and either Larry the Cable Guy or That Worn-Out Wig and Dress

Will and Jaden Smith on Planet Nepotism (After Earth)

Worst Director Nominations 2013

The 13 people who directed Movie 43

Dennis Dugan (Grown-Ups 2)

Tyler Perry (A Madea Christmas and Temptation)

M. Night Shyamalan (After Earth)

Gore Verbinski (The Lone Ranger)

Worst Screenplay Nominations 2013

After Earth (Screenplay by Gary Whitta and M. Night Shyamalan,
Story by Will Smith)

Grown-Ups 2 (Written by Fred Wolfe & Adam Sandler & Tim Herlihy)

The Lone Ranger (Screen Story & Screenplay by Ted Elliott,
Justin Haythe & Terry Rosso)

A Madea Christmas (Written by Tyler Perry)

Movie 43 (written by 19 “screenwriters”)

Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel 2013

Grown-Ups 2

The Hangover III

The Lone Ranger

Scary Movie 5

The Smurfs 2

Stay here on Inside Film to see who wins! Or loses, however you say it.

Posted on by

How far will an actor go to achieve perfection?

Image shows actor Christian Bale in a scene for the film The Machinist.
Image shows actor Christian Bale in a scene for the film The Machinist.

Image via: IGN.com

For many actors, the role is more than just learning the lines. Actors are often required to push their bodies to the limits as well as prepare themselves mentally. The transformations that ensue are often quite staggering.

Christian Bale is a notable actor for transforming his body for a role. For several roles he has lost weight, built muscle and even gained weight. This constant fluctuation is certainly no easy feat. For his role in insomniac thriller, The Machinist, Christian Bale reportedly lost 28.5kg. To lose this weight, Christian relied on a strict diet of a single serving of fish and 1 piece of fruit a day. Currently, Christian holds the record for the most amount of weight lost for any role, and it certainly shows. His biggest achievement however, was for his next role.

After production was finished for The Machinist, Christian Bale was cast as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s reboot. Bale was tasked with reaching a typical Batman like physique something that wasn’t evident in The Machinist. A high carb diet and intensive muscle workouts results in Christian Bale gaining 44.9 KG over the course of production.

Recently, Christian had to get fatter for his role in American Hustle, eating an abundant amount of fast food. He certainly has quite the belly in the film.

In terms of mental preparation, the late Heath Ledger certainly wins the award for his commitment to the role of the Joker in The Dark Knight. Heath threw himself at the role of the main antagonist, locking himself in a room for weeks on end, with only himself for company. During this time, Heath Ledger wrote a diary and practiced his speech, really getting into character. One of his diary entries read that, “I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath – someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts.”

As his performance shows, Heath Ledger certainly grasped the character of the Joker including subtleties such as mannerisms and facial expression. I’m you’ll agree, the voice he used, is chilling and memorable to say the least. Speaking of which Heath Ledger is believed to have taken inspiration from an interview conducted with singer Tom Waits in 1979. You can certainly see the similarities in the interview below.

Acting isn’t just about saying the right lines for many actors. The lengths actors go to in order to achieve the perfect role is clearly extraordinary.

 

Posted on by

Events, offers and releases 3/2/14

Robocop in armour
Mr Peabody, Sherman and Penny in Egyptian dress

Image via http://www.awn.com/

This week will show a number of big film releases in the UK, ranging from an all out action remake to a charmingly hilarious animated family flick.

On the 7th, Robocop, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, The Invisible Woman and Dallas Buyers Club all hit cinemas around the country. Joel Kinnaman, playing the titular robot policeman, will reinvigorate the ageing classic and give pre-valentine’s cinema-goers something to kickstart the month.

For something a little more dramatic, check out The Invisible Woman starring Ralph Fiennes. Taking on the tale of Charles Dickens’ secret lover, this film could give something a little more couple friendly.

Heading to a Showcase cinema this week? Insider members can enjoy a mouth-watering 10″ pizza for just £5, and grab a large Tango Ice Blast to go along with it for the price of a medium drink!

Posted on by

The Ultimate Avengers: Will it happen?

Phase one, phase two, phase three. All these “phases” Marvel keep telling us they are going through is getting pretty confusing. It all began with Iron Man, back in 2008. Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk and a second Iron Man all followed before culminating in Joss Whedons’ £220 million dollar blockbuster The Avengers hitting the screens in 2012.

Whedons outstandingly successful film marked the end of phase one, and the beginning of phase

image via www.thegeektwins.com

image via www.thegeektwins.com

two for Marvel, which has now already seen a third Iron man and sequels for both Thor and Captain America. With Avengers two expected to round off Marvels latest efforts under one big umbrella, how long will it be until we expect more of a favourite superhero’s joining the Avengers roster?

Well, they may not have the answers, but online bloggers Maurice and Nigel, better known as “The Geek Twins”, have provided a visual representation of the current Marvel landscape. Their charming guide illustrates Marvels movie rights for each individual and/or group of superheroes.

During the 1990’s, Marvel began selling their character rights to different movie studios, including Universal and Sony.  This allowed 20th Century Fox to begin producing their X-men films; whilst Sony began work on a new Spiderman franchise.  The success of these franchises, alongside other superhero films such the Fantastic Four and Daredevil, led Marvel to begin making their own films independently and thus, Marvel Studios was born.

Marvel managed to re-obtain rights for Iron Man, Thor and Captain America from Artisan, who had not used the rights in anyway. They also re-claimed the rights for the Incredible Hulk and Namor the Submariner, who has yet to be used, from Universal.

However, Sony refused to give up their rights for Spiderman, as they were planning yet another reboot, albeit this time for the Amazing Spiderman. Fox also decided against selling their rights for X-men, with their films, and stand-alone Wolverine films, continuing to provide moderate success.

It became the comic book world’s worst kept secret in late 2013 that Sony and Marvel failed to reach a deal on some form of crossover movie, but Andrew Garfield has said that he would like to appear in the Avengers universe, stating “I would love that, the fans would love that. Obviously, big business and lawyers and rights issues are an obstacle. In my naiveté I’m all ‘let’s put all that aside and just do it!’.”

As it stands, we are still far away from a truly complete Avengers movie. Although not an original member, Spiderman would be expected to join up with the Avengers somewhere during the second or third instalment, yet with Marc Webb already confirming the completion of the Amazing Spiderman trilogy in 2016, Marvel may yet struggle to fulfil their fans desires despite recent rumours. Marvel themselves appear more focused on adding more strings to their bow, with Guardians of the Galaxy on the way and plans to also reintroduce Ant Man to a younger audience.

However, X-men producer Lauren Shuler Donner has given cause for hope, telling Crave Online that “I would love it. I would love it…to take our characters and mingle them in the way that they were written, yeah, absolutely.” Joss Whedon was also the author of twenty five issues of the critically acclaimed Astonishing X-men and also lent a hand in the writing of The Ultimate’s, the ultimate avenger’s team. So for comic book fans, there may still yet be reason for hope, but for us and the Geek twins, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Posted on by

This week in history: 27th January – 2nd February

Philip Seymour Hoffman, a middle aged blonde man stands in a suit
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, a middle aged blonde man stands in a suit

Image via parade.condenast.com

This post has been edited since publication in light of recent news.

This Sunday, February 2nd 2014 Philip Seymour Hoffman passed away. The 46 year-old actor was found dead in his bathroom on Sunday evening. Reports suggest that his death may be linked to taking drugs. Hoffman has talked about his drug abuse in the past, and has previously sought treatment.

Let us remember him as a brilliant actor. With more than 60 film credits to his name, including Mission Impossible III, The Master, and Capote. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won the Best Actor Academy Award for Capote.

Personally I loved Hoffman as ‘The Count’ in The Boat that Rocked a period comedy about a pirate radio station. More recently I’ve enjoyed his performance in The Hunger Games, I look forward to seeing him in the final two Hunger Games films.

Adam Burt has written a feature celebrating Philip Seymour Hoffman’s life.

On January 31st 1975, Walt Disney Productions sued the producers of The Life and Times of a Happy Hooker. The film follows the life of Dutch secretary then Call Girl, Madam and Memoirist, Xaviera Hollander. In one scene, while a group sex act is being performed, the Mickey Mouse March plays in the background. Walter Stratton, Disney attorney, alleged that the use of the march constitutes “substantial and irreparable, injury, loss and damage to ownership rights”. The producers lost the case.

100 years ago on February 2nd Charlie Chaplain’s first film Making a Living was released. The short stars Chaplain as a swindler who courts a wealthy young lady with a ring he conned from her admirer. Chaplain then steals his camera after he takes shots of a car crash.

This was Chaplains first film role, the start of a huge film career which made him a household name. In 1914 he appeared in a total of 36 short films, he was in just 50 further films in his acting career which spun to 1967.